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A review by vermidian
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
4.0
Siege and Storm was a great second installation to the series. While there were things I could have done without, I still feel like the plot, the world, and the characters were solid. We get a few more new characters in this volume including Nikolai, Tamar, and Tolya - to name a few.
I feel like this one hinged a little more on the dramatic teen romance than the first book, and it was probably the one thing that I disliked more than anything else in the book. And, to be fair, I really enjoyed the book. But the secret keeping, the "do you really love me or do you love him," the villain creeping on it all, and pulling non-consensual bull... It's not my favorite thing. I feel like romance has it's place in a story, but this took up a good half of the book and it drove me to madness a bit.
I kind of love Nikolai. He's way too funny than he has any right to be, but he also knows when to listen and how to collaborate. He's absolutely the most qualified person in this entire book (on the protagonist side of things anyway). I really enjoyed getting to know Nikolai during the book, as it was one part of King of Scars that I totally missed the past context of. I look forward to seeing more of him in the future books. I don't love the whole pressuring Alina thing - but that just circles back to the previous paragraph of ugh teenage romance drama. While his stuff makes sense, it still ruffled by feathers.
I still just really love how flawed and human the characters are though. It's so refreshing to read these books and not get this uber attractive tween described to you every thirty pages who has no flaws but the ability to make mistakes and get saved by plot armor.
All in all, would definitely recommend. But read the first book first, obviously.
I feel like this one hinged a little more on the dramatic teen romance than the first book, and it was probably the one thing that I disliked more than anything else in the book. And, to be fair, I really enjoyed the book. But the secret keeping, the "do you really love me or do you love him," the villain creeping on it all, and pulling non-consensual bull... It's not my favorite thing. I feel like romance has it's place in a story, but this took up a good half of the book and it drove me to madness a bit.
I kind of love Nikolai. He's way too funny than he has any right to be, but he also knows when to listen and how to collaborate. He's absolutely the most qualified person in this entire book (on the protagonist side of things anyway). I really enjoyed getting to know Nikolai during the book, as it was one part of King of Scars that I totally missed the past context of. I look forward to seeing more of him in the future books. I don't love the whole pressuring Alina thing - but that just circles back to the previous paragraph of ugh teenage romance drama. While his stuff makes sense, it still ruffled by feathers.
I still just really love how flawed and human the characters are though. It's so refreshing to read these books and not get this uber attractive tween described to you every thirty pages who has no flaws but the ability to make mistakes and get saved by plot armor.
All in all, would definitely recommend. But read the first book first, obviously.